'Leave No Trace' a captivating look at family, homelessness

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, left, and Ben Foster in a scene from "Leave No Trace." (Scott Green/Bleecker Street via AP)

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, left, and Ben Foster in a scene from "Leave No Trace." (Scott Green/Bleecker Street via AP)

Photo: Scott Green

Photo: Scott Green

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This image released by Bleecker Street shows Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, left, and Ben Foster in a scene from "Leave No Trace." (Scott Green/Bleecker Street via AP)

This image released by Bleecker Street shows Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, left, and Ben Foster in a scene from "Leave No Trace." (Scott Green/Bleecker Street via AP)

Photo: Scott Green

'Leave No Trace' a captivating look at family, homelessness

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Will (Ben Foster), a traumatized veteran who camps in a wooded public park with his teenage daughter, Tom (Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie), in "Leave No Trace," embodies the untenable nature of homelessness.

Tackling it rarely is as easy as finding someone a home. Will is, by appearances, a calm, rational guy. He taught his daughter to forage, and read, in the woods. But when father and daughter (her mother died years ago) are plucked from their cocoon after a passer-by snitches out their campsite to the rangers, Will changes.

He never acts out, but Foster, doing a lot with a minimalist script — the way Will and Tom make dinner from wild mushrooms cooked over a campfire — shows Will quietly coming out of his skin when away from the campsite.

What happened to him while at war is never is spelled out, but it does not need to be. Sparing in dialogue, heavy on alternately gorgeous and foreboding Pacific Northwest scenery, this beautifully observed film by Debra Granik ("Winter's Bone") does not explain much. Yet it captivates throughout, whether its displaced duo fights the elements or sits at a truck stop.

The audience stays invested, because Foster and McKenzie established their character' airtight bond back at camp, when Will and Tom performed daily duties — feathering wood, patching a tent — with an obvious shared joy.

But Tom is fine closer to the grid, too. When social services places father and daughter on a farm, and she meets other teenagers (and a fat show rabbit named Chainsaw — one of this film's many lovely, folksy touches), she thrives.

McKenzie, who comes from a New Zealand acting family (her grandmother, Kate Harcourt, is a dame) is a revelation. She simultaneously exhibits an old-soul quality of a kid who at times must be her father's caretaker, and youthful wonder at new experiences, like discovering the softness of Chainsaw's ears.

"Bone" launched Jennifer Lawrence's Hollywood career. So that's twice now Granik has provided a starring vehicle for a remarkable new talent.